I wonder if, given the 50th anniversary is coming up, that there may be a nod back to the very beginning; will Jenna-Louise play “an unearthly child” of some sort, given we know her character isn’t human…

As always, just a thought…

@mwanderson
I think the whole “An Unearthly Child” thing would have to be explained to newer fans. I obviously know that it was the first episode of Doctor Who, but I have no idea what it was about or what an unearthly child is.

@JC

The “Unearthly Child” is the Doctor’s Granddaughter Susan, the first Doctor Who companion, albeit along with Ian and Barbara.

Whilst it would need explaining if Jenna were such a character, you have to remember that there are more fans who do know about An Unearthly Child, than don’t. So such a move wouldn’t be avoided in a year that celebrates the entire history of the show, and not just the past 7-8.

I appreciate you’ve only seen NuWho JC and don’t have a problem with that, but I believe 2013 should be a year that shouldn’t be afraid of making nerdy fan references to both Classic and NuWho, regardless of how much the audience actually knows.

@Borusa
I completely agree with you though Borusa, I too believe that 2013 should reference Classic Doctor Who and Revived Doctor Who, all the Doctors if possible.

What I meant though was that I hoped if they re-introduced things from the Classic Doctor Who era, they’d make sure newer fans understood the connection, because although some new fans haven’t seen the Classic Era of Doctor Who, it doesn’t mean we wouldn’t like to know more about it.

More than anything, I’d like to be able to appreciate the references to Classic Doctor Who, rather than not pick up on them since I haven’t seen what they reference, if that makes sense.

@JC

Fair point, and I really hope that such explanations to the past will help those understand Classic Who much more.

I would love to see something along the lines of what they did for the 20th anniversary, where they had a villain from the past in every story. Although that might be a bit much with the New Series format, as there are so many stories a series, instead of 5 or 6 like in Classic Who.

The one thing I hope from the 50th anniversary most of all is that finally all viewers will now know that there was stuff before 2005, because there are still viewers who think Doctor Who is a new show. There aren’t that many now, since the NuWho has been around for 7 years, but it still frustrates me.

@Borusa
I can understand that. I’m a 10th Doctor fan myself, but I really appreciate the Classic Series, because it was the foundation for everything that Doctor Who is today.

Every Classic Doctor contributed to the man the Doctor is today, the 10th Doctor himself said:

“It really shouldn’t take that long just to reverse the polarity. I must be a bit out of practice”

………in reference to the 3rd Doctor, which I liked. We also had the great Elisabeth Sladen (RIP) as Sarah Jane Smith, not only in a couple of new Doctor Who episodes, but also having her own series and that was all because of the 3rd and 4th Doctors.

I’m currently reading Elisabeth Sladen’s autobiography at the moment and am really enjoying the stories about Classic Doctor Who whilst she was there, so much so that I watched “Spearhead From Space” today, another example of what the Classic Series brings to Revived Doctor Who in the form of the Nestene Conciousness and the Autons.

So yeah, although I’m a 10th Doctor fan, I can really appreciate the Classic Series and how it’s the backbone of modern Doctor Who.

So I think RTD was right to start at 9th Doctor, instead of the 1st Doctor in a full reboot. Modern Doctor Who definitely benefits from the strong foundations of the Classic Series and the Doctor today is still the man he was in “An Unearthly Child”.

Sorry for the second post, but just then was an example too, the Auton’s hand flipped down, a gun came out and it started shooting.

This was the 3rd Doctor’s first story, and yet at the end of Series 5, Rory was also an Auton and his hand dropped down in the same way, the gun came out and fired.

So yeah, the modern series does owe a lot to the Classic Series

@JC
I wasn’t suggesting that Jenna-Louise would actually play Susan or indeed a character that was called “An Unearthly Child”… my thinking was that it would have been a nice subtle nod back to the beginning of the series without bogging it down in continuity too much. I just think that with Jenna-Louise playing a non-human who looks I’ve a young woman / teenager the similarities are there for her to be alluded to as “an unearthly child”.

@mwanderson
Yeah, it just opened up an interesting line of thought in terms of Classic Doctor Who’s role in the 50th Anniversary generally

@Borusa
Oooh, I agree. The Five Doctors was brilliant: part drama and part loving parody (of course Susan sprained her ankle!), with references to so many previous writers and episodes. If Moffat can pull off something similar, I’ll be in heaven!

Though aren’t you tempting fate a bit with your username? I wouldn’t fancy being imprisoned by the Mind of Rassilon in the Tomb of Rassilon in the Tower of Rassilon for attempting to steal the Ring of Rassilon with the Coronet of Rassilon…

@mwanderson
We know she isn’t human? I know there have been rumours about perhaps she’ll be from the past/future, or an alien, but I hadn’t read anything about her character being confirmed??

Well, “something completely different” can be interpreted many different ways…